Lori Neidefuer Cool | The Grand Rapids PressTom Becker, of Valley Sign, works on the sign at the new Cesar E. Chavez School Friday.

GRAND RAPIDS -- One mother dropped off medication for her child, while another came to the school to buy her student a larger uniform. A call was put out to have the office fax machine repaired. And a teacher's key would not unlock the unoccupied restroom in a second-grade classroom.

All this was crammed into a 30-minute slice of Principal Ana Aleman-Putnam's Friday morning at the new Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School, on the corner of Grandville Avenue and Shamrock Street SW.

The $11.5 million school built on the site of the former Hall School came alive on Tuesday when 386 K-5 students arrived for their first day. Next Monday, 32 preschoolers will join the ranks. Everybody is settling in.

"Sometimes I have to stop and think a moment about how to get to the next thing I'm going to do," said Aleman-Putnam, who is in her fourth year as principal of this school, where she previously taught for 11 years. "But it's been exciting for everybody to be in this building, where everything is new."

Chavez School is the last project to be funded by Grand Rapids Public Schools' successful bond campaign in 2004. Replacing the 60-year-old Hall School wasn't on the long list of projects the district bonded for, but a competitive bidding climate resulted in leftover funds and Hall was added to the list.

Aleman-Putnam and her staff of 24 decided this week during their first staff meeting in a spacious third-floor media center that they like being last, in this instance.

Bugs in design and construction were worked out on earlier projects. Their school is the best of the best and befitting for an up-and-coming neighborhood that also has a new library, Grandville Arts Academy and Hispanic community center, Aleman-Putnam said.

The school was renamed for civil rights and labor leader Cesar E. Chavez to honor the Roosevelt Park neighborhood's Latino population. Spanish is the predominant language for 94 percent of the school's students.

All teachers in the old school, which was demolished over the summer, shared one media cart. In the new school, each classroom has an assortment of wireless technologies and all 15 teachers have their own laptop computers.

The list of energy-conserving amenities includes a roof garden, occupancy-activated lights and water-conserving restrooms.

The gymnasium is twice as big and doesn't have to double as a lunchroom. There are separate art and music rooms. There's room to have kindergarten on site, not a mile away. Teachers have work rooms on each floor.

But students say one of the best features of the new school is the fenced playground that has a soccer field.

"We always played soccer at recess, but now we have a certain place to do it," said Angel Gonzalez, a fourth grader. "That's one thing that makes this school a lot better."